Religion of Saturday, 24 February 2007

Source: GNA

CUC holds graduation ceremony

Accra, Feb. 24, GNA-One hundred and fourteen (114) graduands of the Living Word School of Ministry, an affiliate of the Central University College (CUC) on Saturday graduated from the School with a call on them to make the right decisions that would benefit society.

The Reverend Dr Mensah Otabil, President of the School who made the call also urged the graduands to be good testimony of themselves and the School to enable them to make the right impact in their various fields of endeavour.

"To be able to make the right decisions, you must learn to listen to God and hear from Him", he told the graduands.

"You should not allow anybody to manipulate you as you serve the people", Rev Otabil, who is also the Chancellor of CUC emphasized.

The graduation ceremony, which was attended by a large number of people and relatives of the graduands was the sixth since the establishment of the institution in 2000.

Sixty-two of the graduands were awarded with certificate in Christian Ministry after undergoing a one-year training while 52 received diplomas for their two-year training. Sixteen of the graduands were females.

The Co-ordinator of the School, the Reverend Fiifi Wilson said over 800 church workers have been trained in the School since its inception with the requisite skills which enabled them to adequately work for the church and society in general.

He urged all female Christians, who dominate and play important roles in the church and society to enroll in the school and benefit from the programme. Rev Wilson said the school had redesigned some of its courses to make them more practical with the inclusion of church growth management and workshops on church protocol and ethics.

On the way forward, the Coordinator said management would continue to improve on the School's facilities to enable students from various churches make more appropriate and significant impact on their communities when they graduate.

Pastor Bayless Conley, an International Evangelist based in California, USA who was the guest speaker at the ceremony urged the graduands to do everything with a spirit of excellence by avoiding mediocrity.

He advised them to also "be faithful in small things" so they could aspire to greater heights. "Take time to pray, dream for your lives, families, ministry and nation. Think about your dreams and communicate them accurately and have a generous hearts and souls", Pastor Conley charged the graduands.

The gradunds, as part of the training programme, were taken through biblical counselling, family enrichment minsitry, workshops and retreats.